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Ruthless Rowland had panacheTINY Rowland, the entrepreneur who has died aged 80 after a long fight against cancer, will leave a long, if warped, shadow over Africa. The continent gave him his first break as a wheeler-dealer and sustained his relentless and ruthless ascent to become a multinational tycoon. Tributes to the man from African politicians and businessmen were as numerous and conflicting as Rowland's own versions of his background. Friends and enemies alike, however, agreed that no other businessman had such an enormous influence on post-colonial developments in Africa. That those developments continue to include war, poverty, disease, starvation, corruption and graft would not have troubled Tiny Rowland in the least. Nobody rode the winds of change with more panache - or for more profit. "He was the arch-opportunist," said one former southern African political figure. "We never expected altruism from Tiny and we never got it. But there are many millions of people in Africa who should be thankful for the investments he made." It was opportunism that first brought Rowland to Africa in 1948. A hedonist who liked to be seen with beautiful women, but expended more passion on fast cars, he was attracted to the easy-going, affluent way of life of whites in the then Southern Rhodesia. In contrast to the austerity of socialist post-war Britain, Rhodesia offered land, space, servants, endless parties, hunting, shooting and fishing, as well as generous colonial government assistance to white settlers, especially those with the impeccable English name, accent, clothing and demeanour that he quickly adopted. Within weeks of his arrival, he and friends from England bought an "estate", a 4 000 acre farm in the Rhodesian midlands, relying on cheap local labour to produce maize, cotton and tobacco. But he was far too impatient and restless for farming. Soon he was caught up in the mining fever that swept mineral-rich Rhodesia in the '50s, acquiring interests in chrome and gold mines. His early ventures were assisted by local politicians like Ian Smith and Sir Roy Welensky, whose acquaintance he carefully cultivated. With the same facility, he acquired the Mercedes franchise in a country where the German vehicles were de rigueur for wealthy farmers. He unashamedly reverted to his German background to impress the Mercedes people in Stuttgart. The deals he cut in Rhodesia raised many questions about his probity, but he was acknowledged in the upper echelons of the big mining companies as a supreme negotiator, and was widely admired for his energy and application. This reputation, coupled with a series of flotations, takeovers and financial manipulation on a breathtaking scale, soon found him where he had always boasted he would one day be: at the top of an international conglomerate named Lonrho, once an ailing gold mining venture called The London and Rhodesian Gold Mining Company which operated near his first home in Rhodesia. While he left many friendships and partnerships in tatters in his wake, Rowland made a point of establishing good relationships with his African workers. As Lonrho's chairman, he carried this rapport through to striking up close relationships with post-imperial Africa's new elite - black presidents, politicians and potentates. Though many of them were espousing various forms of "African socialism", their doors were always open to Rowland. Through his contacts, Lonrho acquired vast interests in land, mineral concessions and a myriad of business interests throughout Africa. Ritually condemned at Organisation of African Unity conferences as "the ugly face of neo-colonialism" and accused, with at least some justification, of gun-running, financing mercenary operations, fraud and deceit, Rowland bestrode Africa as a capitalist Colossus for two of its most turbulent decades. - The Telegraph. Top of page
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